


A Phantom Menace

by frapandfurious, RABel



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ficlet, Flirting, Ghost!Kylo, Hux is a nerd, Huxloween, Kylo Is a Little Shit, Like yeah one is a ghost but, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Swearing, ghost au, they'll totally make it work right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 12:52:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12557788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frapandfurious/pseuds/frapandfurious, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RABel/pseuds/RABel
Summary: “Whoever you are,” he called into the darkness, voice shaking. “Stop this right this instant.”It might have been his imagination, but he could have sworn the music turned up just a little bit louder. He scowled.“Very funny."----Hux moves into a new place. He isn't expecting it to come with a roommate.





	A Phantom Menace

**Author's Note:**

> My lone contribution to Huxloween 2k17~ Just a short little ghosty story. :)
> 
> A collab with the sweet and talented [frackenart](frackenart.tumblr.com), art is in the story below and the tumblr post can be found [here](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/post/166126726196/a-possible-scene-from-a-little-something) and [here](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/post/167011247876/w-who-are-you-what-do-you-want-you-could-have) !

“Alright, Millie,” Hux said as he clicked on the flashlight. He took a deep breath. “Here we go.”

 

He opened the door to the basement and _of course_ it creaked ominously. The house wasn’t even that old. He’d have to take a look at those hinges later.

 

 

It had been four months since he moved here, and for the past two, strange things had been happening. Millie would act odd, staring at nothing and then darting off. And then things like objects being moved around where they shouldn’t be, salt dumped into his morning tea when he’d turned his back for just a moment, a dick drawn in the steam on the bathroom mirror when he took a shower.

 

Stupid things like that. Things that would make sense if he had, say, a roommate. But that was laughable. Hux had no friends, no family aside from his estranged father and stepmother. No one but Millicent, his faithful cat.

 

Who was in his arm as he began to descend into the basement because…because she might be able to sense something amiss. _Not_ for emotional support. He was twenty-five years old, for fuck’s sake.

 

The final straw in all this had been when he heard music playing from the basement at all hours of the night. The other stuff was creepy, maybe a little inconvenient, but disrupting his sleep schedule was just _rude_. He was determined to get to the bottom of it.

 

The music was playing now, not very loud, but the walls and floors were thin enough that he could hear it from his bedroom on the second floor. It was almost eleven at night on a Saturday, he’d just finished catching up on his Netflix watch list, and he wanted to go to bed.

 

The flashlight did little to ward off the darkness of the basement. He’d tried the light switch at the top of the steps but it didn’t work. There was a lamp down there, he just had to get to it.

 

“Whoever you are,” he called into the darkness, voice shaking. “Stop this right this instant.”

 

It might have been his imagination, but he could have sworn the music turned up just a little bit louder. He scowled.

 

“Very funny. Just wait until I get down there, then you’ll be s- “

 

His words left his throat as his foot landed at an awkward angle, half-missing the next step, and he lurched forward. He tried to right himself, but it was too late.

 

It all happened so fast – the falling sensation, his strangled cry, Millie leaping from his arm, the flashlight slipping from his hand and clattering to the ground, pitch blackness. He covered his face and braced himself for a painful topple down the steps.

 

…which never came.

 

Hux slowly lowered his hands and blinked into the darkness.

 

Something was holding him up. Something solid but…wavering. He was suspended, his feet not touching the steps or the ground, no part of him touching _anything_ except whatever was keeping him upright. Floating inexplicably in the dark.

 

For a fleeting second he thought he’d died. But surely he would have noticed? He would remember hitting his head or snapping his neck or something horrible? Besides, he felt too…alive for that. His rapidly beating heart, the sudden coldness even though he was wearing a button-up _and_ a sweater.

 

So then what…

 

“You should be more careful.”

 

The deep voice was right next to his ear. Hux gasped sharply and looked around but he was no one there. He squirmed in the invisible grip.

 

“W-who are you? What do you want?”

 

“You could have died,” the voice said, as if he hadn’t heard Hux, or he had and was ignoring him. “And then we’d both be stuck here. It would be cool to have company I guess, even if you’re kind of a nerd.”

 

“A – what! Hey! I am a _curator for the Natural History Museum_ , thank you very much.”

 

“Okay, so you get paid to be a nerd.”

 

The voice was infuriatingly smug. Hux was so irritated he forgot to be scared.

 

“Listen here, you, I don’t know who you think you are, coming into my house and playing pranks and _insulting me_ , but you had better put me down right this instant – “

 

He instantly regretted the words as he felt himself start to drop, just a little, only to be caught again. He yelped and flung his arms out and – were those shoulders? Was that a neck? He felt around. Yes. There was a _person_ holding him. He just couldn’t see them.

 

“You said to put you down.”

 

“That’s _not funny_. Are you trying to kill me?”

 

“No.” Now the voice sounded irritated. “The opposite. I saved you, asshole. Some thanks would be nice.”

 

Hux let out a breath. “Fine. Thanks.”

 

Suddenly he was moving. Slowly, downward and to the side a little, and then his legs were lowered and his feet touched solid ground. The presence around him disappeared and he wobbled, his legs shaky from the scare. Immediately there was the feeling of hands on him again, holding his shoulders, steadying him.

 

“Are you okay?” Now the voice sounded concerned. How odd.

 

“Yes,” Hux muttered. He looked straight ahead, where a face should have been, but still saw nothing but darkness. “Who are you?”

 

A pause, the person shifted a little. Was that hesitation?

 

“Do you want to see?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You won’t run off?”

 

“I haven’t run off yet, have I?”

 

The hands on him disappeared and the basement light clicked on. Hux blinked against the sudden brightness. And then his eyes widened.

 

There, right in front of him, stood a man. Or, well, sort of. He didn’t _stand_ so much as _float_ , a wispy aura where his legs should have been. And he wasn’t _there_ so much as _sort of there_ ; Hux could see the wall behind him. _Through_ him.

 

He had dark hair and dark eyes and a big nose. There was a scar running across the right side of his face, narrowly missing his eye. He was wearing a red t-shirt. Low on the left side of his torso was a gaping wound.

 

As he lingered there he slowly began to solidify, jean-clad legs and sneakered feet appearing where there had been none. He closed his eyes, as if focusing, and when he opened them, he almost looked entirely real. Hux could no longer see the wall behind him. But he was deathly pale, and there was still that horrible hole in his side.

 

“Hi,” he said awkwardly.

 

“Hi,” Hux replied.

 

Hux stepped closer, reaching a hand out. He brushed his fingers over the man’s face and hair. He was cold as ice to the touch; the air around him smelled like damp earth and the crisp, cold air of winter.

 

“Who are you?” Hux asked again. This time, he finally got an answer.

 

“My name is Kylo. I died here a little over a year ago.”

 

“How did you die?”

 

Kylo motioned to the gaping hole in his ribs, an incredulous look on his face. Hux glared.

 

“But how did _that_ happen?”

 

“I fell on a sword.”

 

“You’re shitting me.”

 

“I shit you not. It was my grandfathers. I was bringing it down here to keep it safe – well, hidden from my parents, so they couldn’t donate it to a museum – and I fell, and, well. Here I am.”

 

“Wait. A sword…” Hux thought back to a couple of months ago, when he’d brought a sword the museum had recently acquired home to examine it in his free time. “Is it the one I have upstairs?”

 

“Yeah! That one.” Kylo scowled. “They ended up giving it to a museum anyway. I think my soul is, like, attached to it or something. But then you moved here and brought it back! What are the chances, right? …what?”

 

Hux was glaring at him.

 

“So you decided to thank me by scaring my cat and drawing dicks on my mirror?”

 

“I wasn’t scaring your cat, I was trying to play with her.”

 

Instead of defensive he almost sounded sullen. And Hux almost, _almost_ felt bad for him.

 

“So what is it you want? Do you have unfinished business or something?”

 

“No clue. Maybe. Or maybe I just wasn’t ready to move on.” Kylo shrugged. “Besides, you’re fun to mess with. And you’re kind of cute.”

 

Hux had his mouth half open, ready to fire back about being _fun to mess with_ , when the last words caught up with him. His mouth snapped shut and a flush spread across his face.

 

“I’m. What? _What?_ ”

 

“You heard me,” Kylo mumbled, looking embarrassed.

 

“You’re _dead_.”

 

“You think I don’t know that?” Kylo snapped. “Doesn’t mean I can’t, you know. Appreciate what I see.”

 

His form wavered, like he was about to disappear.

 

“Wait!” Hux said, reaching out again. His hand grasped something cold. He blinked and looked down. He’d grabbed Kylo’s hand, without thinking about it.

 

He swallowed tightly and looked into Kylo’s eyes.

 

“…do you like spy movies?”

 

Kylo gave him an odd look, but he nodded.

 

“I rented the most recent Mission Impossible. You – you probably haven’t seen it. As it came out after you. You know. Died. Would you, um. Would you like to…watch it?”

 

“With you?”

 

Hux rolled his eyes. “No, I was thinking I’d set up a TV down here just for you to watch movies. Yes, with me.”

 

Kylo’s face lit up. He solidified again, beaming. Literally, he seemed to almost glow.

 

“Okay. Yeah. That would be cool. And you don’t even have to worry about me eating all the popcorn. I can’t eat.”

 

Hux grinned a little at that. Just then, Millicent emerged from wherever she’d run off to. Hux scooped her up and held her so that Kylo could scratch behind her ears. She seemed put off for only a moment before she began to purr.

 

“But no more pranks,” Hux said as he ascended the stairs. Kylo disappeared and reappeared at the top of them.

 

“No promises,” he replied with a smirk.

 

Hux sighed. Oh well. At least he had a roommate now. An obnoxious one, yes, but. Well. Also kind of cute. He just wouldn’t be telling the ghost that any time soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [tumblr](http://obsessions-and-dreams.tumblr.com/)!!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A Phantom Menace [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16245800) by [litrapod (litra)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litrapod)




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